Shuttlecock



Oct. 10, 1944.

R. (ANGER snu'rmncocx Filed June 28. 1943 Patented Qct. 10, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SHUTTLECOCK 7 Nancy R. Tanger, Wayland, Mass.

Application June 28, 1943, Serial No. 492,581

2 Claims.

Thisinvention relates to an improved shuttlecock or bird used in playing the game of Badminton.

As iswell known, the shuttlecock ordinarily used is provided with a vane or tail made of feathers which readily break or turn in their sockets and therefore impair the accuracy and balance of the bird in flight after a relatively short period of use. While attempts have been heretofore made to remedy this objection, neverthless, the substitute for the feathers has usually been made of materials which are too stiff or heavy and not only crack or, break under prolonged punishment due to the shock or impact of th paddle or racquet against the head, but,

also do not permit of quick reversal of trajectory necessary to enable the player to accurately control or place his shots.

' Accordingly, the present invention contemplates the provision of a novel construction which eliminates the above noted objections by using a composite vane including a plurality of wool strands of appropriate length whose front or leading ends are attached to a conical surface carried by the head of the bird and which, when the bird is in flight, tends to direct the air stream around and about the wool strands so as to cause them to assume a uniform substantially bulbous and transversely circular pattern which contributes materially to the balance and accuracy of the bird in flight without impairing its speed.

A further object of the invention is to provide a construction which is easily manufactured, inexpensive, and extremely durable in use.

With the above and other objects in view which will more readily appear as the nature of themvention is better understood, the same consists in the novel combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully illustrated and claimed.

A preferred and practical embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of the improved shuttlecock.

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view of the construction shown in Fig. 1.

Figure 3 is a composite view illustrating the two parts of the vane prior to assembly.

Figure 4 is a detail horizontal cross-sectional- Similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawing.

According to the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawing the same includes a head designated generally as A, and a composite vane designated generally as B.

The head A preferably includes a body I of cork, rubbenor equivalent material, and has its front or striking face rounded in the usual manner. The outer surface of the body I is provided with a lkid or other conventional covering suitably secured thereto and may be provided with a band or strip B of colored material for identification purposes. The rear side of the body I is formed with a groove 4 whose outer face is outwardly and upwardly inclined and whose vertical inner face or wall defines a boss 5.

The composite vane structure B preferably consists of a frustro-conical or funnel shaped member or cone 6 which may be made of Celluloid, cellulose acetate, or equivalent material which is of light weight, and yet of sufficient stiffness to maintain its frustro-conical shape. The front end of the member 6 is seated in the groove 4 so as to telescope over the boss 5 and have its outer face coincide with the upwardly inclined face of the groove. The said member 6 may be secured to the body I within the groove 4 by any suitable means, for example, the pins or fastenings 1.

The rear end of the frustro-conical member 6 carries the flexible portion of the vane. That is to say, the rear or tail portion of the vane consists of a plurality of fabric strands 8, preferably wool yarn, which, when applied to the bird, form an annular series of individual light-weight strands which are disposed in the wake of the air stream flowing over the outer surface of the frustro-conical member 6.

As will be apparent from Figure 5, the strands 8 have their lower ends secured to a carrier strip 9 preferably by stitching Ill. The strip 9 may be of fabric tape or the like which permits of conveniently attaching the strands to the carrier strip by the use of a conventional sewing machine or its equivalent. In practice, the wool strands may be attached to the carrier 9 to provide in effect a fringe which may be cut into suitable lengths to provide a ring-like band which carries the series of annularly disposed individual strands, as shown, for example, in the lower half of Fig. 3. When the wool strands have been assembled in the manner shown in the lower half of Fig. 3, the frustro-conical member 6 may be inserted within the ring-like band 9, as indicated by the arrow on the member 6, in Fig. 3.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that a shuttlecock made in accordance with the present invention includes a composite vane consisting of a member 6 providing a conical outer surface and a tail portion consisting of fabric strands which are light and yet strong and materially assists in cooperating with the air stream passing over the member 6 to produce a balanced and accurate flight. When the bird is not in use, the limp and flexible tail is capable of being nested in the rear of the cone, enabling a number of birds to be. stacked in a minimum space for storage, and when the bird is in flight, the slipstream from the cone automatically opens up the strands forming the tail into a hollow circular tail. An

important function of the yarn is to keep thehead of the shuttlecock in the direction that the shuttlecock is moving, that is, to maintain an found that the resistance in flight is too great,

and, conversely, the narrowing of the diameter of the base of the cone too much offers too little resistance and speeds the flight, In other words, it has been found that the relative proportions of the base of the member 6 and the length of the strands 8 are a function of the'trajectory, speed and flight of the bird, for example when the base is made of maximum width there will be a compensating shortening of the wool strands to the minimum length. If the frustro-conical member is too wide at the base and the strands aretoo long, the speed of flight is too slow and the distance the bird will travel is too short. To state the matter in another way, with too little resistance the birds flight is too long, and with too much resistance, theflight is too short.

It has been found that a shuttlecock made in accordance with the present invention reverses its direction quickly when struck with the paddle or racquet. Moreover, the flexible fabric strands are not affected by the punishment of impact so that by actual test the shuttlecock constructed as herein illustrated and described has been; found to have approximately twenty-five times the life of ordinary shuttlecocks.

Without further description it is thought that the features and advantages of the invention will be readily understood and it will, of course, be apparent that changes may be resorted to within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A shuttlecock comprising, in combination, a head, and a composite vane at the rear thereof, said vane including a cone and an annular series of fabric strands each having one end secured to the'rear portion of the cone, said strands constituting alimp deformable fringe when not. in use and collectively forced to open up by the slipstream of the cone into a hollow circular tail when the shuttlecock is in use to produce aneven balanced flight.

2. A shuttlecock comprising, in combination, a head, a vane at the rear of the head and including a thin walled conical member having its truncated apex secured to the head, and a tail element comprising a series of normally parallel disposed wool strands secured at their inner ends to a band which in turn is secured to the base of the. conical. member thereby to provide a collapsible tail which is flexible from end to end and adapted to nest in the conical member when, not

in use, andwhich in flight is opened up by the slipstream from the cone withthe spines of: the wool strands interlocking to provide ahollow circular tail for guiding the shuttlecock in balanced flight.

NANCY R. T-ANGER. 

